This invention relates to remotely determining location information corresponding to any physical volume in space (VIS) occupied by a selected target, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for identifying location information corresponding to any VIS occupied by a selected target from any location remote from the selected target.
The ability to accurately determine the address, location or identity of various structures from remote locations has a potentially large market. Accurate identification of addresses from a distance can greatly simplify and decrease response times of emergency and delivery services. Such remote identification can be used by police, fire, ambulance and other types of emergency services, overnight delivery services, the postal service, utility services, pizza delivery personnel, meter-reading personnel, golf courses, railroads, military vehicles, and by the general public for personal uses.
Automatic identification systems currently in use are limited to determining the identity of selected targets in close proximity to such identification systems. For instance, identification systems have been used in packaging where an identifying number has been encoded in an electronic integrated circuit xe2x80x9cchipxe2x80x9d and the unit is energised by a magnetic field and then responds electronically or vice-versa. Maximum working distance for this technology is about one meter. Railroads have used bar code technology, to remotely identify rail cars. The working distance for this technology is at most ten meters, and even less as the cars become dirty. Both of these technologies can only identify targets in close proximity, such as products or equipment, not the physical coordinates of the VIS that they may occupy. Neither of these technologies come even close to providing ranges that could even be associated with systems that remotely sense location information corresponding to any particular VIS occupied by a selected target.
Range-finders are commonly used to determine the distance of a selected target relative to an observation platform. Range-finders provide no location information about the VIS that the selected target occupies.
Various radio direction finding (RDF) and global positioning system (GPS) technologies are capable of providing different degrees of information about the VIS that any observation platform occupies. They provide no such information about the the VIS that any selected target occupies.
Thus there is a need for the methodology and apparatus for accurately determining location information corresponding to any VIS occupied by a selected target from a distance.
The invention comprises methods and apparatus for determining location information for any VIS that is occupied by a selected target from a remote observation platform through the process of collecting an identification signal from a source at or near the selected target and associating VIS spatial coordinate or location information data with that signal. As part of that association. VIS spacial coordinate or location information corresponding to the observation platform may be combined with spatial coordinate or location information about the VIS occupied by the selected target gathered at the observation platform. In one particular embodiment, a wireless signal source at or near the selected target may be interrogated from the observation platform to produce an identification signal that corresponds to VIS location information that can be extracted from the signal or a separate database. In another particular embodiment, VIS location information corresponding to the observation platform using RDF or GPS techniques can be combined with spatial coordinate information measured between the observation platform and the selected target using range-finding and directional navigation techniques to determine VIS location information for the selected target.
One aspect of the invention comprises a method of determining location information corresponding to a VIS occupied by it selected target from a remote observation platform, comprising the steps of: transmitting an interrogation signal from the observation platform toward the target to retrieve target information data associated with the target that is stored proximate the selected target; transmitting a response signal from proximate the target toward the observation platform that comprises the target information data in response to the interrogation signal; and associating information about the response signal transmitted toward the observation platform with VIS location information to identify location information corresponding to the VIS occupied by the target. Another aspect of the invention comprises an apparatus for determining the location information corresponding to a VIS occupied by a selected target from a remote observation platform, comprising: means for transmitting an interrogation signal from the observation platform toward the target to retrieve target information data associated with the target that is stored proximate the selected target; means for transmitting a response signal from proximate the target toward the observation platform that comprises the target information data in response to the interrogation signal; and associating information about the response signal transmitted toward the observation platform with VIS location information to identify location information corresponding to the VIS occupied by the target.